This Is Orson Welles

Innovative film and theater director, radio producer, actor, writer, painter, narrator, and magician, Orson Welles (1915–1985) was the last true Renaissance man of the twentieth century. From such great radio works as "War of the Worlds" to his cinematic masterpieces Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Othello, Macbeth, Touch of Evil, and Chimes at Midnight, Welles was a master storyteller, as expansive as he was enigmatic. This Is Orson Welles, a collection of penetrating and witty conversations between Welles and Peter Bogdanovich, includes insights into Welles's radio, theater, film, and television work; Hollywood producers, directors, and stars; and almost everything else, from acting to magic, literature to comic strips, bullfighters to gangsters. Now including Welles's revealing memo to Universal about his artistic intentions for Touch of Evil, (of which the "director's edition" was released in Fall 1998) this book, which Welles ultimately considered his autobiography, is a masterpiece as unique and engaging as the best of his works.

Peter Bogdanovich is the award-winning director of The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, What's Up Doc?, Mask, and others; he is also the author of John Ford, Pieces of Time, The Killing of the Unicorn, and Who the Devil Made It. He lives in New York City. Jonathan Rosenbaum is the co-author of Midnight Movies, author of Moving Places, Placing Movies, and Movies as Politics; and film critic for the Chicago Reader.